Learn Hardcore Greek: Έρχομαι σπίτι τρέχοντας γιατί βρέχει. - I am coming home running because it is raining.

Έρχομαι is 1st person singular: I come / I am coming.
Because the ending ‑ομαι already tells us it’s I, the pronoun εγώ (I) is not needed.

You would say εγώ έρχομαι only for emphasis or contrast, for example:

Εγώ έρχομαι σπίτι τρέχοντας, όχι εσύ.
I am the one coming home running, not you.

Why does Ἔρχομαι mean both “I come” and “I am coming”?

Modern Greek has one present tense that covers both:

simple present: I come home every day at six.
present continuous: I am coming home (right now).

So έρχομαι can mean:

I come (home) — habitual or general
I’m coming (home) — right now / currently

Context (often words like τώρα = now, σήμερα = today) tells you whether it’s more like English “I come” or “I’m coming”.
In this sentence, because of τρέχοντας (running) and γιατί βρέχει (because it’s raining), the natural English translation is “I’m coming home running because it’s raining.”

Why is it ἔρχομαι and not πηγαίνω? Don’t both mean “go/come”?

Greek has two main verbs here:

έρχομαι – to come (towards the speaker or a relevant point)
πηγαίνω / πάω – to go (away, in general)

In practice:

Έρχομαι σπίτι. – I’m coming home. (typically: towards where I or “we” belong)
Πάω σπίτι. – I’m going home. (neutral “going”, very common in speech)

In real conversation, Greeks very often say:

Πάω σπίτι γιατί βρέχει. – I’m going home because it’s raining.

The version with έρχομαι can feel a bit more like you are speaking from the point of view of arrival at home, or in a context where home is the “reference point”. In English both are normally just translated I’m going home / I’m coming home, depending on context.

Why is it just σπίτι and not στο σπίτι or το σπίτι?

Σπίτι without an article can function like the English adverb “home”:

Πάω σπίτι. – I’m going home.
Έρχομαι σπίτι. – I’m coming home.

With article and preposition, the nuance changes:

στο σπίτι = σε + το σπίτι = to the house / at the house
(a more concrete the house, not necessarily “my home”)
το σπίτι by itself = the house (as a noun, not an adverb)

Compare:

Πηγαίνω σπίτι. – I’m going home.
Πηγαίνω στο σπίτι. – I’m going to the house. (could be my house, could be someone else’s; feels more literal)

So in this sentence, σπίτι without an article is the natural choice: it’s about going home, not just to some house.

What exactly is τρέχοντας? Is it a verb, a noun, or what?

Τρέχοντας is a present active participle of the verb τρέχω (to run), used adverbially (to describe how the action is done).

Base verb: τρέχω – I run
Present active participle: τρέχοντας – running

Function here:

Έρχομαι σπίτι τρέχοντας.
Literally: I come home running.
→ I’m coming home running / I’m running home.

Grammatically:

It does not change for gender or number in this use (it’s invariable here).
It acts like an adverb of manner, similar to English “by running / running”.

Other examples:

Πήγε στη δουλειά τρέχοντας. – He/She went to work running.
Γύρισαν σπίτι γελώντας. – They returned home laughing.
(γελάω → γελώντας)

Why not just say τρέχω σπίτι instead of σπίτι τρέχοντας?

You can say:

Τρέχω σπίτι γιατί βρέχει. – I’m running home because it’s raining.

But the meaning is slightly different:

Τρέχω σπίτι γιατί βρέχει.
The main action is running (I’m running, and the destination is home).
Έρχομαι σπίτι τρέχοντας γιατί βρέχει.
The main action is coming home; τρέχοντας tells you how you come (you’re running while you come).

So:

τρέχω σπίτι ≈ I run home / I’m running home.
έρχομαι σπίτι τρέχοντας ≈ I’m coming home, running (on the way).

Both are correct; the participle makes τρέχω clearly a manner of the main verb, instead of a separate main action.

Is the word order fixed? Can I say Έρχομαι τρέχοντας σπίτι or move parts around?

Greek word order is fairly flexible, especially for adverbs and participles like τρέχοντας. All of these are grammatical:

Έρχομαι σπίτι τρέχοντας γιατί βρέχει. (original)
Έρχομαι τρέχοντας σπίτι γιατί βρέχει.
Τρέχοντας έρχομαι σπίτι γιατί βρέχει.

They all mean roughly the same: I’m coming home running because it’s raining.

Differences are mainly about rhythm and emphasis:

Putting τρέχοντας right after έρχομαι can slightly highlight the manner of coming.
Starting with Τρέχοντας sounds like you’re emphasizing the fact that you are running.

For a learner, the original order Έρχομαι σπίτι τρέχοντας γιατί βρέχει is very natural and clear.

What does γιατί mean here, and how is it different from επειδή?

Γιατί has two main uses in Greek:

“Why” (question):
- Γιατί τρέχεις; – Why are you running?
“Because” (conjunction, as in this sentence):
- Τρέχω γιατί βρέχει. – I’m running because it’s raining.

In your sentence:

… γιατί βρέχει. = … because it’s raining.

Επειδή also means “because”, but:

επειδή is only “because”; it never means “why”.
In many everyday sentences, γιατί and επειδή are interchangeable when they mean “because”:
- Έρχομαι σπίτι τρέχοντας επειδή βρέχει.
- Έρχομαι σπίτι τρέχοντας γιατί βρέχει.

Both are fine; γιατί is slightly more common in casual speech, επειδή sometimes feels a bit more explicit or formal.

Who or what is the subject of βρέχει? Where is the “it” in “it’s raining”?

In Greek, βρέχει is an impersonal verb:

βρέχει – it is raining / it rains

There is no explicit subject (“it”) in Greek. English uses a “dummy” it that doesn’t really refer to anything; Greek simply omits that.

So:

Βρέχει. – It’s raining.
Έξω βρέχει. – It’s raining outside.
(literally: outside, it-rains)

In your sentence:

… γιατί βρέχει. – … because it’s raining.

No extra word for “it” is needed or possible; adding a pronoun like αυτό here would be wrong.

Does βρέχει mean “it rains” (in general) or “it’s raining” (right now)?

The Greek present βρέχει can express both:

Right now / currently – like English present continuous:
- Βρέχει τώρα. – It’s raining now.
General / habitual – like English simple present:
- Στην πόλη μας βρέχει συχνά. – It rains often in our town.

In your sentence, the context (you’re hurrying home) makes it clearly “it’s raining (now)”:

Έρχομαι σπίτι τρέχοντας γιατί βρέχει.
→ I’m coming home running because it’s raining (now).

How do you pronounce and stress each word in this sentence?

Stress in Greek is very important; each word has one stressed syllable. Roughly:

Έρχομαι – Érchome (ÉR‑cho‑me) – stress on the ἔρ
σπίτι – SPÍ‑ti – stress on σπί
τρέχοντας – TRÉ‑hon‑das – stress on τρέ
γιατί – gia‑TÍ – stress on τι
βρέχει – VRÉ‑chi – stress on βρε

Very rough phonetic guide (European-style):

έ like e in met (a bit tenser)
σπίτι ≈ SPEE-ti
τρέχοντας: χ is a harsh h sound, like German Bach
βρέχει: βρ like English vr; ει here is like ee in see

Correct stress is part of the word’s identity in Greek, so it’s worth practicing together with the spelling.